Child Care Interstate Background Check (CC-IBaCs) Environmental Scan

Appendix F: Interview Guide for State-level Non-Governmental Stakeholders

U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (DHHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE)

Child Care Interstate Background Checks (CC-IBaCs) Environmental Scan

Interview Guide for State-Level Non-Governmental Stakeholders

Thank you for agreeing to participate in this interview today. My name is __________. I work for CNA, a research organization based in Arlington, VA. We are working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child Care and Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation to find ways to improve the implementation of the interstate background checks on child care workers that are required under the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014. For this study, we are interviewing a wide range of key people involved in the background check process. ACF will use the data collected through the interviews to support the development of promising solutions to strengthen nationwide implementation of child care background checks as mandated by the CCDBG Act and provide states and territories with additional technical assistance to facilitate implementation. Please note that the sole purpose of this study is to gather data to inform how ACF can better support state and territory agencies.

Before we get started, there are a few things I should mention. This is a research project, and your participation is voluntary. We expect that the interview will take about 30 minutes to complete. We will summarize your information and use it to produce a final report that will be used for internal planning at the Office of Child Care, but we will not identify or quote any of the specific people interviewed for the report. We aim to summarize findings so that comments cannot be attributed to any specific person.

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB number for this information collection is 0970-0356 and the expiration date is 06/30/2021.

Do you have any questions before we start?

With your permission, we would like to record the interview. The recording will be used to help us ensure our notetaking is accurate. The recordings will be accessible only to the project team at CNA, and will not be shared with the Office of Child Care. We will destroy the recordings after the study is complete. Are you okay with us recording our interview today?

1. What is your involvement or interest in the background check requirements for child care workers?

LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY

[Interviewer: Review question 8 from the web survey to determine if the state needs legislative authority (or has already passed new legislation) to implement any portion of the out-of-state background checks required by the CCDBG Act of 2014. If their survey response to question 8 is that they did not need to pursue new legislation for the out-of-state background check requirements, skip this section of the interview guide.]

First, I’d like to ask you some questions about legislative processes and the legislative barriers to implementing the out-of-state portion of the new child care background checks.

2. [For states that need new legislative authority to pursue out-of-state background check requests] We understand that your state needs new legislative authority to make out-of-state background check requests. In what ways is the lack of legislative authority impeding the ability to implement the out-of-state portion of the child care background check requirements?

PROBES: What actions have been taken by you or other stakeholders to pursue needed authority?

What kind of resources or support from the federal government would help in this process?

3. [For states that have already enacted new legislation to meet the new requirements] We understand that your state has already enacted new legislation to meet the new child care background check requirements. Can you describe the legislation that was passed and the program needs that it addressed?

PROBES: Did you work with the child care agency to pass this legislation?

[If yes,] What were the most important things that helped stakeholders succeed in getting the legislative changes that were needed?

Which were most helpful to getting legislation enacted?

What arguments did you make in support of the legislation?

How long did it take to pass the legislation?

Is there anything you wish was done differently?

4) What challenges do you see in completing the out-of-state background checks required by the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 for…

• Child abuse and neglect registry searches?

• Sex offender registry searches?

• Criminal history searches?

PROBES: Are there challenges related to …

• Staffing?

• Identifying the out-of-state agencies that own the data?

• Communicating with the out-of-state agencies that own the data?

• Lack of automation?

• Difficulty with linking automated systems?

• Restrictions on the release of information?

• Legislative authority to make out-of-state requests?

• Definitional or reporting differences between states?

• How long it takes to receive out-of-state responses?

How do these problems affect the child care agency’s ability to conduct out-of-state background checks?

5) Do you have ideas or suggestions for solutions to these challenges? [Interviewer: Discuss this question for each challenge identified above.]

6. What support from the federal government would assist your state in overcoming implementation challenges?

6. Is there anything else that we haven’t addressed that you would like to mention? Are there other aspects specific to your state’s environment that are hindering the ability to fully implement child care background check requirements?

6. Are there any other people in your state from other programs or interested agencies that you think we should interview for this study?

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